are either members of or govern the cartel known as Major League Baseball (“MLB”). The organization traces its roots to the nineteenth century. Unfortunately for many of its employees, its wage and labor practices remain stuck there. 2.MLB’s longstanding exemption from the United States’ antitrust laws allows it to openly collude on the working conditions for the development of its chief commodity: young baseball players.

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3.MLB has a long, infamous history of labor exploitation dating to its inception. To hoard players and depress salaries during its early years, the cartel inserted a provision (known as the reserve clause) into players’ contracts that allowed teams to retain the contractual rights to players for their entire careers. Moreover, it quickly quashed any rival leagues, which preserved MLB’s system of artificially low salaries and nonexistent contractual mobility. 4.Players at the highest level of the game (“major leaguers”) eventually unionized to counteract MLB’s collusive power. Since negotiating sports’ first collective bargaining agreement in 1968, major leaguers have enjoyed increased contractual mobility and an explosion in salaries. For instance, the most recent collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the union representing major leaguers—the Major League Baseball Players’ Association (“MLBPA”)—requires Defendants to pay major leaguers a minimum of $500,000 per season. 5.Unlike the major leaguers, players in the minor leagues (“minor leaguers”) have no union, even though they comprise the overwhelming majority of baseball players employed by the Defendants. The MLBPA does not represent the interests of minor leaguers. 6.Efforts to unionize minor leaguers have been unsuccessful because minor leaguers fear retaliation by the seemingly omnipotent Defendants. Striving towards a lifelong dream of playing in the major leagues, minor leaguers are reluctant to upset the status quo. As one minor leaguer, Dan

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The term “Defendants” applies to all defendants named in this Complaint.